Songs in A Minor

Songs in A Minor is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Alicia Keys. It was released on June 26, 2001, by J Records. A classically trained pianist, Keys wrote, arranged and produced the majority of the album herself, though she frequently worked with her then-partner Kerry "Krucial" Brothers. The efforts resulted in a neo soul record fusing contemporary classical music with R&B, soul, and jazz, alongside influences of hip-hop, blues, and gospel. Its lyrics focus on themes of love, perseverance, self-worth, survival, and introspection. Despite the album's title, only two of its tracks are composed in the key of A minor.

Keys began writing songs for her debut studio album in 1995, aged 14, before signing a record deal with Columbia Records in 1996. Dissatisfied with Columbia's attempts to control her artistry and diminish her own creative inputs, she began recording Songs in A Minor independently in 1998. Upon being presented with finished recordings, Columbia rejected them. Around that time, Keys met Clive Davis, founder and then-president of Arista Records, who was impressed with her and bought out her contract with Columbia to sign her at Arista. She later finished the album under J Records in 2001. Further collaborative efforts included those with Jermaine Dupri, Kandi Burruss, Brian McKnight, and Jimmy Cozier. Autobiographical allusions to past relationships and the album's tumultuous creation are also interspersed throughout its lyricism.

Upon release, Songs in A Minor received widespread critical acclaim, primarily for its musical style and Keys' artistic maturity, though its lyricism elicited criticism. A commercial success, it debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 236,000 units. Though a sleeper hit internationally, it went on to become one of the best-selling albums of 2001 worldwide. At the 44th Annual Grammy Awards (2002), Keys tied Lauryn Hill's record for most awards won by a woman in a single night with five wins, including the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. Songs in A Minor produced four singles, including the US Billboard Hot 100 number one and worldwide hit "Fallin'", and the US top-10 hit "A Woman's Worth". To further promote the album, Keys embarked on her headlining debut Songs in A Minor Tour (2002).

Songs in A Minor is widely regarded as an idiosyncratic, yet influential, album of the early 2000s; numerous publications have included it among the best albums of its era. Its immediate critical acclaim went on to be sustained with retrospective commentaries, which unanimously emphasized the record's timeless quality. Furthermore, Songs in A Minor is credited with solidifying Keys as a viable and ubiquitous recording artist. Based on its "cultural, historical or aesthetic importance", the album was inducted into the 2022 class of the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress. In 2020, the album was certified septuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for combined sales and album-equivalent units of seven million in the US. As of 2011, it has sold over 12 million copies worldwide.

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